Bite Mark Cases

Maricopa County, AZ

Ray Krone

Dec 29, 1991

Ray Krone was sentenced to death for the murder of Kim Ancona,
36, a bar manager who was killed at the CBS Lounge restaurant where she
worked. Krone was a regular customer at the restaurant/bar and knew Ancona.
Krone had an alibi and his 10-1/2 shoe size did not match the 9-1/2 size
shoe print left at murder scene. Hairs and partial fingerprints found did
not match Krone either. However, police felt Krone's teeth matched a bite
mark on the victim. Krone was dubbed the “Snaggletooth Killer” because
one of his top front teeth stuck out. At trial, Dr. Raymond Rawson, a
nationally known forensic odontologist, testified that he was 100% certain
that bite mark on the victim matched Krone. After Krone's conviction
was overturned, a retrial jury convicted him again in 1996 despite defense
testimony from three forensic dentists that the bite mark did not match. This time the judge sentenced him to life in prison, citing doubts about
whether Krone was the killer. In 2001, DNA testing of blood found on
victim was matched to the actual killer, Kenneth Phillips, and Krone was
released after serving 10 1/3 years.

It was later learned that prior to the second trial the
prosecuting attorney was personally told by two of the country's most
respected dental forensic experts that there was “no way” the teeth marks on
Ancona's body were made by Krone. The experts asserted the
prosecution's dental expert was absolutely wrong to identify Krone as the
source of the bite marks. Not only did the prosecutor not inform the defense
of this exculpatory information, but he proceeded with seeking the death
penalty.

In 2004, Krone came to the attention of the TV show
Extreme Makeover, and agreed to a makeover that included the
replacement of five of his front teeth. The program documenting his
transformation was broadcast in Feb 2005. In April 2005, Krone was
awarded $1.4 million by Maricopa County and in September he was awarded $3
million by the city of Phoenix. In Feb 2006, the Arizona legislature
publicly apologized to him. Krone's case is profiled in the first half
of the book
The Death Penalty on Trial by Bill Kurtis. (Forensic
Files) (JD)
(IP) (CCADP)
[12/06]

San Bernardino County, CA

William Richards

Aug 10, 1993 (Hesperia)

“William Richards was wrongly convicted in July 1997 of
murdering his wife on August 10, 1993. He was sentenced to 25 yrs. to life
in prison. Richards' conviction was after he had two trials end in hung
juries. The prosecution's case was largely circumstantial, based on the
fact that Richards was the person who found her body after he got off work. An expert also testified that a ‘bite mark’ on her [hand] was consistent
with Richards' bite. In 2001 the California Innocence Project became
involved in his case and in the fall of 2007 DNA testing of skin scrapings
of the killer recovered from underneath his wife's fingernails excluded
Richards. Richards filed a state habeas petition for a new trial based on
among other things, the DNA evidence and the prosecution's bite mark expert
repudiated his trial testimony as mistaken -- since the mark on her hand may
not have been a bite. An evidentiary hearing was held on January 26, 2009. On August 10, 2009 San Bernardino County Judge Brian McCarville overturned
Richards conviction, saying that the new evidence pointed ‘unerringly to
innocence.’ Richards was exonerated after 16 years of incarceration, 4
prior to his conviction and 12 afterwards.” –
FJDB
(F)

Hawaii County, HI

Pauline & the Schweitzers

Dec 24, 1991

While riding her bicycle, 23-year-old Dana Ireland was hit by
a car. Then she was taken to a remote area 5 miles north of the
collision site where she was raped and murdered. Two-and-a-half years
later an Oahu inmate, Frank Pauline, Jr., came forward with information. He said that in exchange for the information he wanted the authorities to
look kindly on his half-brother who was facing drug charges.Read More by Clicking Here

Cook County, IL

Young, Hill, & Williams

Oct 14, 1990

Dan Young, Jr. and Harold Hill were convicted of killing Kathy
Morgan, 39, whose body was found by firefighters sent to extinguish a
blaze. Peter Williams was also charged but charges were dropped after
police learned Williams was in jail at the time of the murder. Hill who was
16 was first arrested on unrelated charges. Chicago detectives Kenneth
Boudreau and John Halloran obtained a confession from him saying that he,
Young, and Williams all took part in the crime. Young, who has a 56 IQ, was
arrested and confessed after he says police beat him. Williams was the last
to be arrested. He gave the most detailed confession, but he later said he
was handcuffed to a radiator for hours and urinated on himself because he
was not allowed to use a bathroom. The conviction and charges against Young
and Hill were dropped in 2005 after bite mark trial testimony was
discredited and DNA tests failed to implicate the two. [9/05]

Jefferson Parish, LA

Willie Jackson

Dec 12, 1986 (Marrero)

Willie Jackson was convicted of rape and robbery after being
identified by the victim. In addition, a forensic odontologist testified at
trial that the bite marks on the victim matched Willie. Just days after
Willie's conviction, his brother Milton confessed to the crime. At least
three pieces of evidence implicated Milton, but the victim still identified
Willie. In 2006, Willie was freed after DNA tests showed that Milton was
the rapist. Milton is serving a life sentence for an unrelated 1998 rape.
(IP) [12/06]

Macomb County, MI

Cristini & Moldowan

Aug 9, 1990 (Warren)

Michael Cristini and Jeffrey Moldowan were convicted of the
kidnapping and rape of Moldowan's ex-girlfriend, Maureen Fournier. Two
other men identified by Fournier were not prosecuted. Dr. Allan Warnick, a
forensic odontologist, testified that bite marks on Fournier's body had come
from both defendants. Both defendants had alibis and Fournier's medical
exam indicated neither that she was raped nor did it detect the presence of
sperm. Cristini was sentenced to 44 to 60 years of imprisonment while
Moldowan was sentenced to four terms of 60 to 90 years. Warnick's bite mark
testimony was later discredited, leading to retrials in 2003 and 2004, at
which both defendants were acquitted. (JD) (Jim
Fisher) (Appeals) [9/05]

Noxubee County, MS

Levon Brooks

Sept 15, 1990 (Brooksville)

Levon Brooks was convicted of the rape and murder of his
ex-girlfriend's daughter, three-year-old Courtney Smith. Courtney was
abducted at night from her Brooksville home and her body was found in a
nearby pond two days later. Brooks' conviction was based on the the
forensic testimony of the medical examiner, Dr. Steven Hayne, and forensic
bite-mark testimony given by Dr. Michael West. West testified that
Brooks' two top teeth matched alleged bite marks on Courtney's wrist. Forensic evidence indicated the alleged marks were made post-mortem, as they
were not accompanied by internal bleeding. Since Courtney's cause of
death was drowning, it was unlikely the marks were human bite marks, as the
perpetrator would have had to bite Courtney after she drowned. Dr.
Hayne, however, disputed that the marks were post-mortem.

In 2008, Justin Albert Johnson, a local man who was an initial
suspect in the murder, confessed to the crime after DNA tests implicated him
in the murder of another three-year-old girl. Another man from the
same town named Kennedy Brewer had been convicted of that murder using
almost identical testimony that alleged bite marks on the victim matched
Brewer's two top teeth. In his confession, Johnson adamantly denied
that he bit either girl. Along with Brewer, Brooks was subsequently
exonerated. (MIP)
(IP)
[9/08]

Noxubee County, MS

Kennedy Brewer

May 3, 1992 (Brooksville)

Kennedy Brewer was sentenced to death for the rape and murder
of three-year-old Christine Jackson, the daughter of his live-in girlfriend. Christine had been taken from her home in the early morning hours and found
dumped in a creek. An intruder could have entered the home through a
broken window. Brewer was the boyfriend of Gloria Jackson, the
victim's mother. Christine had been sleeping on a makeshift pallet of
sofa cushions at the foot of the couple's bed. In the morning, the
couple discovered that Christine was gone. Two other children were
present in the home.Read More by Clicking Here

Osage County, OK

Gregory Wilhoit

May 31, 1985 (Tulsa)

Gregory Ralph Wilhoit was convicted of murdering his estranged
wife, Kathryn, and sentenced to death. The prosecution presented evidence
that the bite mark found on his dead wife came from Wilhoit's teeth and that
there was a rare type of bacteria found around the bite mark that traced
back to Wilhoit. The conviction was overturned for attorney incompetency
because Wilhoit's counsel had suffered brain damage in an accident a year
before trial and was abusing alcohol and prescription drugs. Wilhoit was
released in 1991. At retrial in 1993, his defense had 11 forensic
ondontologists refute the bite mark findings. They also stated that the
“rare” bacteria were quite common. Wilhoit was acquitted. (PC)
[7/05]

Fayette County, PA

Crystal Weimer

Jan 27, 2001 (Connellsville)

Crystal Dawn Weimer was convicted in 2006 of conspiring to
murder Curtis Haith. Haith, 21, was beaten and shot to death outside his
Connellsville apartment following a late night party. Hours before the
murder, Weimer and about a dozen or so friends including Haith drank beer at
her house in Uniontown. At 11:30 p.m., one of the partiers drove Haith to
Connellsville, 12 miles away. Weimer tagged along but returned to Uniontown
within an hour. Haith partied at a Connellsville bar until 2:00 a.m., then
invited some of the patrons to his nearby apartment. The last patrons left
Haith's apartment about 4:30 a.m. Twenty minutes later, a neighbor called
police reporting frantic screams from the area of Haith's apartment. Police
found Haith beaten to death with a gunshot wound to the face in a lot next
to his apartment.Read More by Clicking Here

Milwaukee County, WI

Robert Stinson

Nov 3, 1984

Robert Lee Stinson was convicted of the murder of a neighbor,
62-year-old Ione Cychosz. The victim was found beaten and stabbed with
eight bite marks on her. A forensic odontologist, Dr. L. Thomas
Johnson, determined that the perpetrator likely had a missing upper front
tooth. Police visited Stinson as part of a neighborhood canvass and he
lived in a home adjacent to the yard where Cychosz's body was found. A
detective on the case, James Gauger, recalled, “My partner told him a couple
of jokes, and Stinson laughed.” When they saw a missing tooth, “we
knew we had our man.”

At trial, Johnson and another forensic odontologist, Dr.
Raymond Rawson, testified that Stinson's teeth matched bite marks found on
the victim's body even though Stinson was missing a tooth in a place where
the bite marks indicated a tooth. Johnson testified that the bite
marks “had to have been made by teeth identical” to Stinson's and that there
was “no margin for error in this.” Rawson called the bite mark
evidence “overwhelming” and said “there was no question there was a match.” Rawson would later give provably erroneous bite mark testimony against an
Arizona murder defendant named Ray Krone.

On appeal in 1986, Stinson argued he was convicted solely on
inadmissible bite mark evidence, but the appeals court upheld bite mark
evidence in their legal decision,
Wisconsin v. Stinson. According to one expert, the
decision was the “crown jewel” of legal opinions that forensic odontologists
pointed to as validation of bite mark analysis as an approved science.

In 2005, the Wisconsin Innocence Project accepted Stinson's
case and developed two kinds of new evidence. First, DNA testing of
saliva found on the victim's sweater revealed a male profile that excluded
Stinson. Second, the WIP arranged for the bite marks to be re-examined
by a panel of four nationally-recognized experts, Dr. Gregory Golden, Dr.
David Senn, Dr. Norman Sperber, and Dr. Denise Murmann. Using modern
methods, the panel unanimously concluded that Stinson's teeth could not have
inflicted the bites. Due to the new evidence, Stinson's conviction was
overturned in 2009 and charges against him were dropped. Stinson was
released after serving more than 23 years in prison. (Chicago
Tribune) (Law
Review) (AP News)
[3/10]